I want to be honest about where I come from. I started as a fire technician. Then I ran my own security business from about 2007, for 14 to 15 years. For the last 5 years I have been in solar.
I did not know how to do SEO or build websites until the last two years. That is the truth. I am not a web veteran, and I will not pretend to be.
But there is one thing I did do for years, and it turned out to matter.
The design I did long before websites
Through the years I learned how to use Corel, a design program, and how to design things. I made a lot of my own presentations and my own flyers. I did them myself.
When I started working on websites, that carried over. I was able to make visually good looking designs and well balanced pages.
I am not saying a flyer is the same as a website. It is not. A website has to work on a phone, and it has to do a job. But the eye you build making a flyer is useful. You learn what looks crowded. You learn what looks calm. You learn where people look first.
What I can do is pass on some plain advice.
What a clean page does
A clean page for a local service business does a few simple things. This is general advice, not a list of rules. Use what helps.
It says what you do, and where, in the first screen. No clever slogan. If you fix furnaces in Austin, say so. A visitor should know within a few seconds that they are in the right place.
It gives one main thing to do. Usually that is “Call us” or “Request a quote”. Put that button where a thumb can reach it on a phone. Repeat it further down the page. Do not give people six different choices.
It leaves space. Empty space is not wasted. It is what makes the important parts stand out. When a page is full to the edges, nothing looks important.
It uses few colors and few fonts. Pick one or two colors and one or two fonts, and stay with them. A page that looks the same all the way down feels calm and trustworthy.
It uses real photos where it can. A photo of your own van or your own team says more than a picture that could belong to any company.
It keeps words short. Short paragraphs. Plain words. Someone reading on a phone at the side of the road will not read a wall of text.
It shows why people can trust you. Reviews, years in business, warranties, the areas you cover. Put them near the buttons, where the person is deciding.
What I would take out
Often the best thing you can do is remove things.
Take out the moving banners, the long intro about your history, and the five different phone numbers. Take out any button that does not lead somewhere useful. Take out words like “solutions” and “best in class”. They sound like every other company.
If a part of the page does not help someone call you, ask why it is there.
A balanced page
I used the word balanced earlier. Here is what I mean.
Look at your page with your eyes half closed. You should see a clear shape. Where is the heading? Where is the button? Does one side feel heavy and the other empty? Is there one thing that pulls your eye first?
If your eye jumps around, your visitor’s eye will too. Move things until it settles. Line things up. Give the same gap between the same kinds of things.
This is the same job as a flyer. You are guiding a person’s eye, and you are doing it on a small screen.
A checklist for your page
- Open your page on your phone. Can you tell what you do and where within a few seconds?
- Is there one clear main button? Is it easy to tap?
- Is your phone number a tap-to-call link?
- Count your fonts and colors. Can you cut them down?
- Look at the spaces. Is anything crammed together?
- Read the first paragraph. Is every sentence short?
- Do you have at least one real photo of your own work, van or team?
- Are your reviews or warranties near the button?
- Delete one thing that does not help someone call you.
- Ask a friend who does not know your trade to look for five seconds, then tell you what you do.
Where we come in
A clean page is only half of it. If someone messages and nobody answers, the page did not do its job.
At AI SEO Local, we build what we call a Smart Website. We can add AI to the site you already have, or build you a new one. We never force a rebuild. It includes basic AI website chat that answers common questions and takes the person’s details, and a new inquiry alert goes to your phone in our app.
We also offer a Follow-Up System. It texts back missed calls, answers texts and chats, sends reminders, and keeps every message in one shared inbox.
We cannot promise it will bring you more jobs. No honest person can. What we can do is make sure your page is clear and that people who reach out get an answer.
If you want to talk it through, we run a 30-minute Help me choose call. You can book it on the contact page. No pressure. If cutting a few things off your page is all you need today, that is a fine place to start.